Mailing lists for TOPCAT and friends

The following mailing lists have been (belatedly, Feb 2010) introduced for TOPCAT, STILTS and STIL:

topcat-user@bristol.ac.uk

Discussion list for users of the software. Users, potential users, developers and other interested parties are encouraged to use this to post questions, answers, bug reports, feature requests, comments, tips, experiences etc related to TOPCAT, STILTS or STIL. I sometimes also use this to float ideas and gather feedback about future directions of the software.

topcat-announce@bristol.ac.uk

Low-volume read-only list for announcements of new releases and other news items.

You can subscribe to either or both of these lists by following the relevant link above, and then using the "subscribe" link on the left of the page. Alternatively, you can send a message with the Subject line "subscribe topcat-user" or "subscribe topcat-announce" to sympa@sympa.bristol.ac.uk.

It is possible to send messages to topcat-user without being subscribed to it. There are two drawbacks: first the message will only appear on the list when I see it, rather than automatically and immediately (so if I'm away there may be a delay). Second, you may have to check the archive page to see responses.

I will monitor the topcat-user list, and in most cases I would expect to post a reply to queries on the same day, unless another list user beats me to it. One reason for introducing this list is so that users can benefit from each others' experiences, and so that responses I make to queries can be seen by other readers (either at the time or in the list archive) who may be experiencing similar issues or thinking along similar lines. Another is so that I can gather opinions about future directions for the software from the user community.

I am still happy to respond to personal emails related to the software if you're more comfortable with that for any reason, but if the discussion might be illuminating to other users, consider mailing to the list rather than to me directly.